Las Carretas Mexican Restaurant Gainesville — Restaurant in Gainesville

I really wanted to like this place based on all the great reviews and was so excited to try it, but I just did not enjoy this experience.

Everything was SO BLAND. We ordered:

-Queso fundido (cheese and chorizo bowl) -Ground beef hard shell taco -Steak burrito -Beef enchilada -Birria tacos

None of the meats tasted seasoned. Chorizo is usually so flavorful and gives you a nice bite of spice and there was nothing there. The steak had a little more flavor than the shredded beef in the birria tacos (which tasted of absolutely nothing sans sauce), and there was SO much grease from the ground beef on my plate that it’s like they took a cup of ground beef straight from the pan without draining whatsoever.

All my food was sitting in a pool of grease. I couldn’t eat the shell of the taco for the grease soak and ended up having to scoop out the ingredients to put in a flour tortilla instead to salvage it. It made the enchilada inedible even after transferring it to its own plate. The waiter had no sympathy and acted like that was normal.

Also, it’s a strange layout in here with little breathing room. Stairs to go down into the middle section of the restaurant and then another set to go up. It’s small, and so when one person ordered a sizzling fajita plate, the entire restaurant was smoked out within seconds and I walked out with my hair reeking of it.

Finally, they have a salsa bar but the set up makes it really awkward to scoop out the salsa. You can’t reach half of it and they provide the tiniesttttt salsa cups. To where if you don’t grab 5+ salsa cups on a plate, you’re going to be constantly going back up there, which really interrupts the meal. I think it’s the responsibility of a chips/salsa runner to keep salsa available at a table for Mexican restaurants. Having to traverse two sets of stairs 3-4 times to get salsa for my family at 9mo pregnant made this dining experience pretty unpleasant, aside from the mediocre food.

Pros: My sister ordered a tequila drink and she said it’s one of the best she’s ever had. Based on other reviews, this sounds like a better drinking establishment. They also brought my child’s kids meal out quickly and I thought that was great of them as nobody wants to listen to cranky children while dining. I can’t really offer much other positive feedback on this particular experience.

Overall, I won’t be back. I have a much better experience at Las Margaritas where they bring me salsa to my table, the prices are lower, the food tastes better, and the drinks are...

I was very excited to come here after all of the raving reviews. I have no idea how this place has a 4.9 with over 3,000 reviews. Sure, the servers are nice, and the atmosphere is fine, but the food was such a letdown.

For starters they bring you chips and a dip. The chips are nothing special and are about what you could get in a store. The dip is a bean dip, but it's more like a bean water dip. It tasted like they had a can of refried beans and drained the liquid out and served it and then squeezed a little cheese moisture in it. The salsa bar is solid enough with a nice variety. None of the salsa's tasted exceptional just mostly average. The queso was un offensive but again nothing exceptional. The guacamole was pretty solid though. We did order the Tamales Oaxaquenos and they were pretty good. They had a nice smokey flavor to them.

Next, we got our entree's. I got the Master Fajita Quesadilla, and my wife got the Mexico City Tacos. The quesadilla was actually pretty good. The rice was lukewarm at best and the beans were cold. I don't know how cheese was melted on top of the beans, but they were not good. It's almost like they have plates of rice and beans prepared and then add the entrees as they come. The quesadilla was the only thing that tasted like it had recently been made. The Mexico City Tacos were 3 bland tacos. They didn't have any seasoning at all. They were served with a side Frijoles de la Olla which were also oddly cold and had no flavor. I don't know if they actually made them or just plopped them out of a can.

After the very disappointing entrees we decided not to get a dessert. $60 for mostly mediocre or just not good food. I would not come here again as there are much better options available in...

The atmosphere is nice with beautiful seating and different levels of comfort. The top floor seemed to be more active, while the other two levels were for a more quiet eating experience. We were on the second level in a booth. The waitress didn’t show up for about 20 minutes (by the way it was not crowded). My husband actually called the front desk from his phone to ask for service. When the waitress appeared she was pleasant and apologetic. According to her, they didn’t tell her she had another table. So we got past that and we ordered. Before going on about the food, I’d like to mention we were told to scan the label on the table for drink menus. The first thing that came to mind was what if I didn’t bring my phone with me? I was disappointed in the paper menu because it was too “wordy” no pics of their food. I kinda like seeing the pictures of different plates and how it is presented. The scanned menu had the pictures which made the food appear more appealing. However, I ended up picking something I would eat at most restaurants. Since this was the first time we have been here I wanted to try a specialty dish. I needed that visual though! Regardless of the initial poor service, things were turned around. The food was delicious! Just filling enough to satisfy you. The same for drinks. My husband got a margarita. We assumed it would be frozen but it wasn’t. I guess the only frozen drink is the daiquiri. We will visit again because we always give places a second try. Overall I have it a 4 due to the initial impression of...